Tasing Incident in Catskill Leads to $20 Million Lawsuit

The man reportedly burst into flames after police tased him back in 2021 and today the family of the man is suing for millions.

Back in November of 2021, we shared the news about 29-year-old Jason Jones, who tragically burst into flames after he doused himself with hand sanitizer and was then tased by a Catskill Police officer.

The Incident

According to numerous reports, the incident happened on October 30, 2021, when Jones entered the lobby of the Catskill Police Department and is seen on video interacting with two police officers.

In the video, Jones appears to be really angry while interacting with officers, and at one point, he takes off his sweater and rips his shirt off all while pacing around the lobby. Reports say that the interactions with officers went on for some time and towards the end of the videos, Jones is seen squirting hand sanitizer all over his head and body.

After dousing himself the video shows one of the officers pointing a taser at him and firing it, hitting Jones. The shock led to Jones becoming engulfed in flames and he falls to the floor as all of the officers leave the area where the incident took place leaving Jones alone and on fire according to CNN.

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14 seconds later, one officer returns to try and help Jones as his hair catches on fire. Approxomly 15 minutes later, a stretcher is brought in and the video shows Jones being taken out of the lobby. He was transported to an area hospital and unfortunately died from his injuries on December 15th, 2021.

The videos are available online, but before you view them please be advised that they are extremely graphic!

The Investigation

After Jones passed away the New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) launched an investigation to try and see what happened as they often do. OSI looks at all incidents where a police officer may have caused a person’s death according to News 10. The investigation is currently ongoing.

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$20 Million Lawsuit Filed

The Catskill Police Department was notified that a lawsuit has been filed by the family of Jones. The lawsuit claims that officers did not come to Jones' aid quickly enough and that the police department needs to provide better training for officers in situations like this. The family is seeking $20 million in damages.